Indian students cheer around a cardboard cutout of President Obama after his win was projected Tuesday in New Delhi.

Photo: Kevin Frayer, Associated Press

Indian students cheer around a cardboard cutout of President Obama...

Image 2 of 3

A spread of Belgian newspapers is shown in Brussels on the morning after the U.S. elections, Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. Faced with U.S. election results coming after printing deadlines, Belgian newspapers found novel ways around the problem. Het Laatste Nieuws, middle left, produced two front pages, asking readers to "pick your cover." One was headlined "It's Obama" while another, folded inside, read "It's Romney." De Morgen, bottom right, cut its front page in half, with one side saying "Mitt Romney President" and the other "Barack Obama President." On the Romney side it said "Please turn quickly if Obama is the winner." Le Soir's front page, top left, screamed "Obama," followed on the left with "Has Lost ,read page 2" and on the right "Has Won, read page 3." Sports newspaper La Derniere Heure, top right, left the face blank and instead provided a scan code to download the winner onto a cellphone. (AP Photo/Virginia Mayo)

Photo: Virginia Mayo, Associated Press

A spread of Belgian newspapers is shown in Brussels on the morning...

Image 3 of 3

U.S. Ambassador to Japan John Roos, center, and Japanese high-school students celebrate reports that President Barack Obama won the presidential election at the U.S. Embassy in Tokyo Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2012. (AP Photo/Itsuo Inouye)

He won, and the word "phew" trended worldwide on Twitter. Despite a hard-fought campaign in the United States, there was never any contest overseas.

Gone are the days when President Obama was seen as a youthful, messianic figure capable of magically curing the world's woes. But he remains widely popular, and his triumph reassured many who feared that an abrupt change in U.S. policy could spell trouble.

Even Tom McGrath, president of Republicans Abroad France, conceded: "It's clear that if they could vote, Europe would vote 80 percent for Obama."

Part of the reason is continuity. Mitt Romney is a little-known figure internationally with scant foreign policy experience, while Obama was seen - even by most critics - as a steady hand following a predictable course.

If he hasn't brought peace to the world's fire zones, or done much to slow climate change, or sparked global economic growth, he is credited at least with having started no new wars and having tried to heal relations with the Muslim world, even while aggressively pursuing al Qaeda and its affiliates.

A BBC survey during the campaign found remarkable support for an Obama second term. More than 21,000 people in 21 countries were questioned in July, August and September, with residents in all but one country backing Obama. Only Pakistan, where Obama's heavy reliance on drone strikes has been unpopular, preferred Romney.

An Iraqi army officer in Baghdad praised Obama for withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq and planning to do the same in Afghanistan.

"These show that Obama differs from other American presidents in his foreign policy," said the officer, who gave his name as Abu Hussein.

Praise for Obama was not universal. Pakistani Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan said Muslims should not express happiness about Obama's victory.

"We must remember that they are the enemies of Islam, and it is our duty to fight them," Ahsan said in a telephone interview from an undisclosed location.

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, a frequent critic of U.S. policy, did not comment immediately, but the state-run Venezuelan News Agency said Obama returns to power "with various promises unfulfilled," including what it described as his failures to close the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and set up a system to limit greenhouse gas emissions.